Hasta La Ideas

London studio Jonathan Tuckey Design has converted a historic chapel in Wiltshire, England, into a house with a blackened-timber extension conceived as the building’s shadow.

The architects were only permitted to build an extension that would be invisible from the street. “The form was generated by the parameters of building something as big as possible within the chapel’s shadow, so that led to the consideration of materials reminiscent of a shadow,” Jonathan Tuckey told Dezeen.

The roof and every wall of the extension is clad in bitumen-stained larch, with flush detailing around the edges of the gable and chimney. It is built over a series of reconstructed dry-stone walls.

“The clients, the planners and us were all keen to create something different to the original building, rather than mimic it,” said Tuckey.

All four of the house’s bedrooms are contained inside the new structure, while the former vestry of the chapel functions as a library and the large hall is converted into an open-plan kitchen and living room with a mezzanine gallery above.

A transparent glass corridor links the extension with the two adjoining buildings of the chapel and can be opened out to the garden in warmer weather.

Other church conversions we’ve featured on Dezeen include a bookstore inside a former Dominican church in Holland and a church converted into an auditorium in Spain.

See more buildings clad with blackened wood, including a weekend house in Japan.

Here’s a short project description from the architect:

Shadow House – Transformation of a Grade 2* listed chapel in Wiltshire into a family home

Our clients were intent on preserving the historic character of this elegant historic chapel but needed to adapt the building to accommodate the needs of their young family and connect it to the garden at the rear of the site.

Complementing the existing chapel’s form and scale the new extension sits on re-built dry stone walls in the garden and is unseen from the street. It is clad in blackened timber, echoing the vernacular tabernacle churches of the West Country; a quiet shadow of the original building.

A glazed transparent passage, which can be opened entirely in warmer weather, links the extension back to the chapel where the mid-19th century spaces have been refurbished.

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